Scheduling events for a dynamic audience platform

ABSTRACT

A system receives event information describing an event performed by a user with a content provider. The system identifies a property associated with the content provider whose aggregation conditions are satisfied by the event. The system selects an aggregator to which to send the information based on the user. The selected aggregator stores an event entry in its aggregator store with the event information and an indication of the property. The aggregator determines an aggregate value of the user for the property based on event entries in the aggregator store associated with the user and the property. The system provides a content item associated with the content provider to the user based on audience conditions of the property being satisfied by the aggregate value. The system also determines a removal time for each event entry and schedules an aggregation event for updating the user&#39;s aggregate value at removal time.

BACKGROUND

This application relates generally to distributing content items, and inparticular to tracking information and management of events for purposesof distributing content items.

Content providers aim to effectively provide content to users. Forproviding content to the right users, content providers set up certainrules for events that must occur associated with those users in orderfor the user to meet the criteria for receiving the content. Contentproviders may then use online systems to track information about usersover time and determine if the tracked information indicates the usersmeet the rules set up by the content provider and thus satisfy thecriteria for sending content to users. To effectively provide content tousers, content providers would like to determine if the trackedinformation satisfies criteria as quickly as possible and utilize themost relevant tracked information of the user.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods for determining ifa content item should be provided to a user based on events performed bythe user. In one embodiment, when a user performs an event with acontent provider system, event information describing the event is sentfrom the content provider system to the online system. For example, theuser may take an action that contributes to a user reaching a state ofhaving met the rules or properties set up by the content provider forreceiving the content. The online system identifies a propertyassociated with the content provider system whose aggregation conditionsare satisfied by the event. As one example, the property could be that acertain number of events must occur by the user in order for the user tomeet the criteria for receiving the content. The online system stores anevent entry that includes the event information and an indication of theproperty whose aggregate conditions are satisfied by the event.

The online system determines an aggregate value of the user for theproperty based on stored event entries that are associated with the userand the property. If the online system determines that audienceconditions of the property are satisfied by the aggregate value, theonline system provides a content item associated with the contentprovider system to the user. For example, the online system determineswhether, in aggregate, the user has had occur the number of eventsrequired to satisfy the audience conditions/requirements for receivingthe content. If audience conditions of the property are not satisfied bythe aggregate value, the online system waits until more events occurthat are needed to satisfy the audience conditions and result in thecontent item being provided to the user. The online system alsodetermines a removal time for the stored event entry. The removal timeindicates when the event of the entry should no longer be considered incomputing the user's aggregate value for the property. The online systemschedules an aggregation event for updating the user's aggregate valuefor the property when removal time is reached. Responsive to reachingthe removal time, the online system determines an updated aggregatevalue based on event entries that are associated with the user and theproperty. However, the stored event entry associated with the removaltime is not used in updating the aggregate value as a result of itsremoval time being reached.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a high-level overview ofprocessing an event performed by a user, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system environment for an online system,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an architecture of the online system,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process for processing an eventperformed by a user, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process for updating the aggregatevalue of a property at removal time, according to one embodiment.

The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention forpurposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readilyrecognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments ofthe structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed withoutdeparting from the principles of the invention described herein.

The figures use like reference numerals to identify like elements. Aletter after a reference numeral, such as “204 a,” indicates the textrefers specifically to the element having that particular referencenumeral. A reference numeral in the text without a following letter,such as “204,” refers to any or all of the elements in the figuresbearing that reference numeral (e.g., “204” in the text refers toreference numerals “204 a,” “204 b” and/or “204 c” in the figures).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a high-level overview 100 ofprocessing an event performed by a user, according to one embodiment.FIG. 1 illustrates operations performed by a content provider system 102and an online system 104. The content provider system 102 provides userswith access to content (e.g., webpages, media content). Through thecontent provided by the content provider system 102 a user may, forexample, browse for and purchase items, view articles, access videos,etc. The online system 104 also provides users with access to content(e.g., social networking content). Entities, such as the contentprovider system 102 may request that the online system 104 delivercontent items (e.g., advertisements) to users. When the content providersystem 102 requests that the online system 104 deliver a content item tousers, the content provider system 102 defines one or more propertiesfor the content item. A property is the tracking of one or more eventsfor users for purposes of delivering a content item. When a usersatisfies audience conditions of the property, the user may be providedwith the content item. For example, a property may include tracking howmany times each user has made a purchase from the content providersystem 102 in the last thirty days. If a user has made at least fivepurchases from the content provider system 102 in the last thirty days,the user is eligible to receive the content item. Another example istracking how many times a user viewed a particular product of thecontent provider (an event) in the last 2 weeks, and if it has been atleast three times (three events), the user is eligible to receive acontent item about that product that encourages the user to buy theproduct. Hence, a property defines an audience to which the contentprovider system 102 wishes to provide the content item.

FIG. 1 illustrates the online system 104 processing an event performedby a user. The user performs an event 124 with the content providersystem 102, such as viewing, putting into a shopping cart, or purchasingan item from the content provider system 102. A selector module 106 ofthe online system 104 receives event information 126 from the contentprovider system 102 for the event performed by the user. The eventinformation 126 includes, for example, an identifier of the contentprovider system 102, information of the user (e.g., an identifierassociated with the user), an event time when the event occurred, andother information associated with the event. For example, if the eventis making a purchase from the content provider system 102, the otherinformation may be the items purchased and the price of the purchase.

The selector module 106 stores the event information 126 in an eventarchive store 108 of the online system 104. The event archive store 108includes event information for a history of events for which the onlinesystem 104 has received information. The selector module 106 determinesthat the content provider system 102 is associated with the event fromthe event information 126 and identifies properties that are associatedwith the content provider system 102. From the identified propertiesassociated with the content provider system 102, the selector module 106identifies a property whose aggregate conditions are satisfied by theevent. The aggregate conditions indicate when a user's aggregate valuefor the property should be incremented. For example, the aggregateconditions of the property may indicate that the user's aggregate valuefor property be incremented when the user makes a purchase from thecontent provider system 102. The aggregate value indicates how manytimes the user made a purchase from the content provider system 102during a period of time.

Since the event satisfies the aggregate conditions of a property, theuser's aggregate value for the property is to be updated. From multipleaggregator modules 110 a through 110 n of the online system 104, theonline system 104 selects aggregator module 110 a for updating theuser's aggregate value for the property. In one embodiment, aggregatormodule 110 a is selected based on aggregator module 110 a storing eventinformation for the user. In this embodiment, each aggregator module 110stores information for a different set of users. In another embodiment,each aggregator module 110 stores information for a different set ofproperties and aggregator module 110 a is selected based on the propertywhose aggregate conditions are satisfied by the event performed by theuser. The selector module 106 transmits the event information 126 to theaggregator module 110 a along with information on the property whoseaggregate conditions are satisfied by the event.

The aggregator module 110 a creates an event entry in a cache 112 a ofthe aggregator module 110 a. The event entry includes the eventinformation 126 and an indication of the property whose aggregateconditions are satisfied by the event. In one embodiment, the aggregatormodule 110 a also stores the event entry in an intermediate store 114 aof aggregator module 110 a. To update the user's aggregate value for theproperty, the aggregator module 110 a determines an aggregation periodby identifying a retention period of the property. The retention periodindicates for what period of time after an event occurs, the eventshould be used in computing the aggregate value. For example, if theproperty involves tracking the number of purchases by a user in the lastthirty days, the retention period is thirty days. The aggregator module110 a determines the aggregation period to be between the current time(t) and the current time minus the retention period (t-retentionperiod). Using the intermediate store 114 a and/or the cache 112 a, theaggregator module 110 a identifies stored event entries associated withthe property and the user whose event times are within the aggregationperiod. The aggregator module 110 a determines the user's new aggregatevalue to be the number of event entries identified. Continuing with thepurchases in the last thirty days example, by limiting the entriesidentified to be within the aggregation period, the aggregator module110 a only identifies entries of the user for purchases that occurredwithin the last thirty days. The aggregator module 110 a stores theaggregate value 128 in the property value store 116. If the propertyvalue store 116 already includes an aggregate value of the user for thesame property, the aggregator module 110 a replaces it with the newaggregate value determined. The property value store 116 includes theaggregate values of users for different properties.

The content delivery module 118 periodically checks whether theaggregate value 128 satisfies the audience conditions of the respectiveproperty (e.g., is the aggregate value 128 greater than a threshold). Ifthe aggregate value 128 satisfies the audience conditions, the contentdelivery module 118 may provide a content item of the content providersystem 102 to the user. For example, the user may only have to satisfythe audience conditions of this property in order to be eligible toreceive the content item or the user may have to satisfy the audienceconditions of multiple properties in order to be eligible (e.g., usereligible if made more than five purchases in the last thirty days andvisited a website of the content provider system 102 more than threetimes in the last week).

In addition to the aggregator module 110 a storing an event entry forthe event performed by the user and determining the aggregate value 128,the aggregator module 110 a also determines a removal time for the evententry. The removal time indicates when the event of the entry should nolonger be considered in computing the user's aggregate value for theproperty. The aggregator module 110 a determines the removal time to bethe event time plus the retention period of the property. For example,if the event occurred at 1 PM on Oct. 1, 2016 and the retention periodis thirty days, the removal time for the event entry is 1 PM on Oct. 31,2016. The aggregator module 110 a stores an aggregate event 130 in thescheduler store 120 that includes the removal time, an indication of theproperty, an indication of the user, and an identifier of the aggregatormodule 110.

A scheduler module 122 of the online system 104 determines when theremoval time has been reached. When the removal time has been reached,the scheduler module 122 determines the property and the user identifiedby the aggregate event 130. The scheduler module 122 providesinstructions 132 to the aggregator module 110 a identified by theaggregate event 130 to update the user's aggregate value for property.Based on the instructions, the aggregator module 110 a determines anaggregation period for identifying event entries to aggregate. Theaggregator module 110 a determines the aggregation period to be betweenthe current time and the current time minus the retention period of theproperty. The aggregator module 110 a identifies stored event entriesassociated with the property and the user whose event times are withinthe aggregation period. The aggregator module 110 a determines that thenumber of event entries identified is the user's new aggregate value andstores it in the property value store 116. Since the removal time of theevent entry was reached, the event time of the event entry will not bewithin the aggregation period. As a result, the event entry is notidentified by the aggregator module 110 a for aggregation. Essentially,the event entry is removed from the aggregate value when its removaltime is reached.

Continuing with the example of the event entry having an event time of 1PM on October 1^(st) and a removal time of 1 PM on October 31^(st), atfor example 1:01 PM on October 31^(st) the aggregator module 110 areceives instructions from the schedule module 122 to update the user'saggregate value for the property. The aggregator module 110 a determinesan aggregation period to be between October 1^(st) at 1:01 PM andOctober 31^(st) at 1:01 PM. Thus, the event entry having an event timeof 1 PM on October 1st will not be identified by the aggregator module110 a for aggregation since 1 PM on October 1^(st) is not within theaggregation period.

Thus, by the online system 104 determining a removal time for each evententry and re-aggregating after the removal time, the online system 104ensures that the aggregate value for each user is always accurate and upto date. Further, by each aggregator module 110 storing data forspecific users and/or properties and having a cache 112 and/orintermediate store 114, the online system 104 is able to quicklyidentify the information needed to quickly determine an aggregate valuefor a user. In fact, it performs substantially quicker than would bepossible without the cache and/or the intermediate store that allows forquick retrieval of information. This retrieval of information about theuser generally has to occur at impression time when a user is loading upa page and the online system must fill open spots with content items.Thus, there is commonly only a few milliseconds (e.g., less than 100milliseconds, or less than 20 or 10, or even 1-5 milliseconds) to dothis retrieval and determine whether the user can be provided with thecontent item. Overall, this may allow for a page to be loaded by a userwith the appropriate content items in less than 5 or 100 milliseconds,or less than 50 or 20 milliseconds.

System Architecture

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system environment for an online system104, according to one embodiment. The system environment 200 includesclient devices 204 a, 204 b, and 204 c, multiple content providersystems 102, and an online system 104 connected via a network 202. Inalternative configurations, different and/or additional components maybe included in the system environment 200 (e.g., additional clientdevices 204 and content providers systems 102).

The network 202 represents communications pathways between the clientdevices 204, the content provider systems 102, and the online system104. The network 202 may comprise any combination of local area and/orwide area networks, using both wired and/or wireless communicationsystems. In one embodiment, the network 202 uses standard communicationstechnologies and/or protocols. For example, the network 202 includescommunication links using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11,worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, codedivision multiple access (CDMA), digital subscriber line (DSL), etc.

A client device 204 is a computing device capable of receiving userinputs as well as sending and/or receiving data via the network 202. Theclient device 204 may be a conventional computer system, such as adesktop or a laptop computer, or a mobile device, such as a mobiletelephone, a smartphone or a personal digital assistant (PDA). In oneembodiment, the user device 110 interacts with other entities in thenetwork 202 through an application programming interface (API) runningon a native operating system of the client device 204, such as IOS® orANDROID™.

A user uses a client device 204 to interact with the content providerssystems 102 and/or online system 104. For example, through a clientdevice 204 a user can communicate with the content provider system 102to obtain content, such as news articles, webpages, text, videos, audio,images, and any other suitable data for presentation to a user. A usermay also interact with a content provider system 102 to purchase itemsor services. A user may also communicate with the online system 104through a client device 204 to obtain content. For example, the contentobtained from the online system 104 may be social networking contentsuch as a profile page and content shared by connections of the user(e.g., comments, posts, messages, images, links, etc.). The onlinesystem 104 may also provide content items, such as advertisements to aclient device 204.

A content provider system 102 is a computer system of a content providerthat provides content to client devices 204. A content provider system102 may also request that the online system 104 deliver content items tousers of the online system 104. As part of the online system 104delivering content items, a content provider system 102 may notify theonline system 104 when certain events occur through user interactionswith the content provider system 102. For example, an event could be auser viewing a webpage of the content provider system 102, a userclicking on an advertisement provided by the online system 104 andincluded with content of the content provider system 102, a user placingan item in a shopping cart, or a user purchasing an item. In oneembodiment, the content provider system 102 includes an online systempixel in content provided to users to track and provide information onuser interactions to the online system 104. The online system 104 usesthe information received from the content providers systems for purposesof delivering content items.

The online system 104 is a computer system that shares content withclient devices 204. In one embodiment, the online system 104 is a socialnetworking system that provides social networking content to users.Content provider system 102 may request that online system 104 runcampaigns to have specific content items distributed to users of theonline system 104. The online system 104 receives from the contentprovider system 102 content items and properties for determining targetaudience for each content item. The online system 104 determines ifusers satisfy properties of content items and delivers content itemsbased on the determination.

FIG. 3 is an example block diagram of the architecture of the onlinesystem 104, according to one embodiment. In the embodiment of FIG. 3,the online system 104 includes a user profile store 302, edge store 304,content module 306, content store 308, property store 310, event module312, selector module 106, event archive store 108, aggregator module110, property value store 116, content delivery module 118, schedulerstore 120, scheduler module 122, backfill module 314, and web server320. In other embodiments, the online system 104 may include additional,fewer, or different components for various applications. Conventionalcomponents such as network interfaces, security functions, loadbalancers, failover servers, management and network operations consoles,and the like are not shown so as to not obscure the details of thesystem architecture.

Each user of the online system 104 is associated with a user profile,which is stored in the user profile store 302. The user profile includesdeclarative information about the user that was explicitly shared by theuser and may also include profile information inferred by the onlinesystem 104. In one embodiment, a user profile includes multiple datafields, each describing one or more attributes of the corresponding userof the online system 104. Examples of information stored in a userprofile include biographic, demographic, and other types of descriptiveinformation such as work experience, educational history, gender,hobbies or preferences, geographical information, that describescharacteristics of users. A user profile may also store otherinformation provided by the user, for example, images or videos.

While user profiles in the user profile store 302 are frequentlyassociated with individuals, allowing individuals to interact with eachother via the online system 104, user profiles may also be stored forentities such as businesses or organizations. This allows an entity toestablish a presence on the online system 104 for connecting andexchanging content with other users of the online system 104. The entitymay post information about itself, about its products or provide otherinformation to users of the online system 104 using a brand pageassociated with the entity's user profile. Other users of the socialnetworking system may connect to the brand page to receive informationposted to the brand page or to receive information from the brand page.A user profile associated with the brand page may include informationabout the entity itself, providing users with background orinformational data about the entity.

In one embodiment, the edge store 304 stores information describingconnections between users and other objects on the online system 104 asedges. Some edges may be defined by users, allowing users to specifytheir relationships with other users. For example, users may generateedges with other users that parallel the users' real-life relationships,such as friends, co-workers, partners, and so forth. Other edges aregenerated when users interact with objects in the online system 104,such as expressing interest in a page on the social networking system,sharing a link with other users of the social networking system, andcommenting on posts made by other users of the social networking system.Users and objects within the online system 104 can be represented asnodes in a social graph that are connected by edges stored in the edgestore 304.

In one embodiment, an edge may include various features eachrepresenting characteristics of interactions between users, interactionsbetween users and object, or interactions between objects. For example,features included in an edge describe rate of interaction between twousers, how recently two users have interacted with each other, the rateor amount of information retrieved by one user about an object, or thenumber and types of comments posted by a user about an object. Thefeatures may also represent information describing a particular objector user. For example, a feature may represent the level of interest thata user has in a particular topic, the rate at which the user logs intothe online system 104, or information describing demographic informationabout a user. Each feature may be associated with a source object oruser, a target object or user, and a feature value. A feature may bespecified as an expression based on values describing the source objector user, the target object or user, or interactions between the sourceobject or user and target object or user; hence, an edge may berepresented as one or more feature expressions.

The edge store 304 also stores information about edges, such as affinityscores for objects, interests, and other users. Affinity scores, or“affinities,” may be computed by the online system 104 over time toapproximate a user's affinity for an object, interest, and other usersin the online system 104 based on the actions performed by the user. Auser's affinity may be computed by the online system 104 over time toapproximate a user's affinity for an object, interest, and other usersin the online system 104 based on the actions performed by the user.Computation of affinity is further described in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/978,265, filed on Dec. 23, 2010, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/690,254, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/689,969, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, and U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/690,088, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, each of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety. Multiple interactions betweena user and a specific object may be stored as a single edge in the edgestore 304, in one embodiment. Alternatively, each interaction between auser and a specific object is stored as a separate edge. In someembodiments, connections between users may be stored in the user profilestore 302, or the user profile store 302 may access the edge store 304to determine connections between users.

The content module 306 processes requests from content provider systems102 regarding content items. A content provider system 102 may requestthat the online system 104 deliver content items to users of the onlinesystem 104. In one embodiment, a content item is an advertisement. Inanother embodiment, a content item encourages a user to perform aninteraction with the online system 104. The interaction may be a socialinteraction, such as encouraging a user to establish a connection in asocial network or encouraging a user to view content (e.g., a picture)shared by another user.

When a content provider system 102 requests that a content item bedelivered to users, the content module 306 communicates with the contentprovider system 102 to create one or more properties whose conditionshave to be satisfied by a user in order for the user to be eligible toreceive the content item. A property is the tracking of occurrences ofan event for users for purposes of delivering content items. Throughcommunications with the content provider system 102, a property iscreated by the content module 306 that includes a namespace, aggregationconditions, a retention period, and audience conditions. A namespace isan identifier of the content provider system 102. The namespaceindicates that the property is associated with (e.g., created for) thecontent provider system 102. Aggregation conditions indicate conditionsthat need to be satisfied by a user event in order for a user'saggregate value for the property to be incremented. The user's aggregatevalue for the property is an indication of the number of eventsperformed by the user during a time period that satisfied theaggregation conditions. For example, aggregation conditions could be auser performing an event that comprises placing an item in a shoppingcart of the content provider system 102.

The retention period of the property indicates for what period of timeafter an event occurs that satisfies the aggregation conditions, theevent should be used in determining the aggregate value. For example,assume the retention period is seven days. When an event occurs thatsatisfies the aggregation conditions, the event will be counted incomputing the aggregate value. However, seven days after the eventoccurred, the event is no longer counted as part of computing theaggregate value. The audience conditions indicate conditions that needto be met by a user's aggregate value in order for the property to besatisfied by the user. Continuing with the same example, audienceconditions could be that a user's aggregate value for the property begreater than or equal to three. Hence, if a user's aggregate value for aproperty indicates that the user placed items in the shopping cart threetimes in the last seven days, the audience conditions are met and theuser may be eligible to receive the content item.

The content module 306 stores the content item received from the contentprovider system 102 in the content store 308. With the content item thecontent module 306 stores indications of the properties associated withthe content item. The information stored in the content store 308 isused by the content delivery module 118 to deliver content items tousers eligible to receive the content items. Additionally, the contentmodule 306 stores the properties in the property store 310. Theinformation stored in the property store 310 is used by selector module106 to select properties, by the aggregator module 110 to determineaggregate values, and the content delivery module 118 to determine whichusers are eligible to receive content items.

Based on the properties created for the content item, the online system104 may need to track events that occur through user interaction withthe content provider system 102. For an event that needs to be tracked,the online system 104 may provide an online system pixel to the contentprovider system 102 to include with content of the content providersystem 102. For example, the tracking pixel may be a segment of HTMLcode resulting in a transparent 1×1 image or an iframe added to pages onits website, such as a product page describing a product, on a shoppingcart page that the user visits upon putting something into a shoppingcart, on a checkout page that the user visits to checkout and purchase aproduct, etc. Online system pixels allow the online system 104 to trackevents that occur through user interactions with the content providersystem 102. The online system pixel will send information back to theonline system 104 when content of the content provider system 102 isaccessed by a user. For example, when a user's browser loads a pagehaving the tracking pixel, the tracking pixel results in the user'sbrowser attempting to retrieve the content for that pixel, and thebrowser contacts the online system to retrieve the content. The requestsent to the online system, however, actually includes various data aboutthe user's actions taken on the website. Events for which the onlinesystem 104 may receive information from a content provider system 102may include, for example, one or more of the following: viewing content,searching, adding items to a cart, adding items to a wishlist,initiating checkout of item, adding payment information, making apurchase, submitting a form, signing up for a trial, logging into anaccount, accessing a pricing page, completing a subscription, andsigning up for a service. The content provider system 102 may alsospecify a custom event for the online system pixel to track. Forexample, a custom event may be adding a particular type of item to ashopping cart or making a purchase greater than a certain value.

The content provider can also control what data is sent to the onlinesystem upon firing of the tracking pixel. For example, the contentprovider may include information about the page the user is loading(e.g., is it a product page, a shopping cart page, a checkout page,etc.), about information on the page or about a product on the page ofinterest to the user (e.g., the SKU number of the product, the color,the size, the style, the current price, any discounts offered, thenumber of products requested, etc.), about the user (e.g., the thirdparty's user identifier (UID) for the user, contact information for theuser, etc.), and other data. In some embodiments, a cookie set by theonline system can also be retrieved by the online system, which caninclude various data about the user, such as the online systems' UID forthe user, information about the client device and the browser, such asthe Internet Protocol (IP) address of the client device, among otherdata.

Tracking can also be performed on mobile applications of contentproviders by using a software development kit (SDK) of the online systemor via an application programming interface (API) of the online systemto track events (e.g., purchases) that occur by users on the contentprovider's app that are reported to the online system.

The event module 312 processes event information received by the onlinesystem 104. When a user performs an event with a content provider system102 and the content provider system 102 transmits event information forthe event to the online system 104, the event module 312 receives theevent information. The transmittal of the event information can betriggered, for example, by an online system pixel. In one embodiment,the event information includes a namespace identifying the contentprovider system 102, information of the user that engaged in the event,event time indicating when the event occurred, and informationdescribing the event that the user engaged in (e.g., placed item incart, checked out, etc). The event module 312 provides the eventinformation of the event to the selector module 106. The event module312 may format, standardize or supplement the event information beforesending the event information to the selector module 106.

The selector module 106 determines properties satisfied by the event andselects an aggregator module 110 to process the event. In oneembodiment, the selector module 106 receives the event information fromthe event module 312 and stores the event information in the eventarchive store 108. The event archive store 108 includes eventinformation for each event for which the online system 104 has receivedinformation. In another embodiment, instead of the selector module 106storing the event information in the event archive store 108, the eventmodule 312 stores event information when it is received.

The selector module 106 determines the content provider system 102associated with the event from the namespace included in the eventinformation. The selector module 106 identifies properties from theproperty store 310 that are associated with the content provider system102. From the identified properties, the selector module 106 determinesthe properties whose aggregate conditions are satisfied by the eventdescribed by the event information.

Additionally, the selector module 106 selects from the multipleaggregator modules 110, an aggregator module 110 assigned to the userthat engaged in the event. In this embodiment, each aggregator module110 stores information for a different set of users. Since eachaggregator module 110 has at least one store, by selecting theaggregator module 110 assigned to the user, the selector module 106 isselecting the store of the aggregator module 110 for storing the eventinformation as described in more detail below with reference to theaggregator module 110. The selector module 106 transmits the eventinformation to the selected aggregator module 110 along with anindication of the determined properties whose aggregate conditions aresatisfied by the event. In another embodiment, each aggregator module110 stores information for a different set of properties and aggregatormodule 110 are selected based on the properties whose aggregatecondition are satisfied by the event performed by the user. Hence, inthis embodiment, multiple aggregator modules 110 may be selected.

An aggregator module 110 processes event information and computes anaggregate value for each property whose aggregate conditions aresatisfied. Each aggregator module 110 includes a cache 112 and anintermediate store 114. The cache 112 and the intermediate store 114 mayeach be referred to as an aggregator store. Additionally, the cache 112and the intermediate store 114 may collectively be referred to as anaggregator store. In another embodiment, instead of each aggregatormodule 110 including a cache 112 and an intermediate store 114 as shownin FIG. 3, an intermediate store 114 may be shared by multipleaggregator modules 110 but each aggregator module 110 still includes itsown cache 112. In one embodiment, each aggregator module 110 is aseparate computer system.

When an aggregator module 110 receives from the selector module 106event information along with an indication of the determined propertieswhose aggregate conditions are satisfied by an event, for eachdetermined property, the aggregator module 110 stores an event entry inthe cache 112 of the aggregator module 110. The event entry includes theevent information along with an indication of the property. In oneembodiment, the aggregator module 110 also stores the event entry in theintermediate store 114. In one embodiment, the aggregator module 110first stores the event entry in the cache 112 and if the event entry isnot accessed within a period of time it is then moved over to theintermediate store 114. In one embodiment, the event entry is stored asa key value pair. The key is comprised of the property, an identifier ofthe user who performed the event, and the event time when the eventoccurred. The value is the event information.

After storing the event information, the aggregator module 110determines, for each property whose aggregate conditions are satisfied,an aggregate value for the user that performed the event. As part ofdetermining a user's aggregate value for a property, the aggregatormodule 110 determines an aggregation period. The aggregator module 110determines that aggregation period to be between the current time (t)and the current time minus the retention period of the property(t-retention period). Using the aggregator store of the aggregatormodule 110 (i.e., the cache 112 and/or the intermediate store 114), theaggregator module 110 identifies stored event entries whose event timeis within the aggregation period and that are associated with theproperty and the user. The aggregator module 110 determines theaggregate value to be the number of event entries identified. Theaggregator module 110 stores the aggregate value in the property valuestore 116. The property value store 116 includes the aggregate values ofproperties for different users. If the property value store 116 alreadyincludes an aggregate value of the user for the same property, theaggregator module 110 replaces it with the new aggregate valuedetermined.

In addition, the aggregator module 110 also determines a removal timefor a stored event entry. The removal time indicates when the event ofthe entry should no longer be considered in computing the user'saggregate value for the property. The aggregator module 110 determinesthe removal time to be the event time of the event plus the retentionperiod of the property. The aggregator module 110 stores an aggregateevent in the scheduler store 120. The aggregate event includes theremoval time, an indication of the property, an indication of the user,and an identifier that identifies the aggregator module 110. Thescheduler store 120 includes aggregate events for event entries.

The content delivery module 118 delivers content items to the users. Thecontent delivery module 118 periodically checks the property value store116 for aggregate values to see whether the aggregate value satisfiesthe audience conditions of the respective property (e.g., is theaggregate value greater than a threshold). If the aggregate valuesatisfies the audience conditions, the content delivery module 118determines that the user satisfies the property. The content deliverymodule 118 determines whether the user now satisfies each property of acontent item stored in the content store 308. If the user satisfies eachproperty of a content item, the content delivery module 118 determinesthat the user is eligible to receive the content item. When anopportunity arises to present a content item to the user, the contentdelivery module 118 considers the eligible content items in selecting acontent item to present to the user. For example, the content deliverymodule 118 may use an auction process to select the content item fromthe content items that the user is eligible to receive. The contentdelivery module 118 retrieves the selected content item from the contentstore 308 and transmits the selected content item to the client device204 of the user.

The scheduler module 122 monitors the aggregate events stored in thescheduler store 120. When the removal time associated with an aggregateevent is reached, the scheduler module 122 determines the aggregatormodule 110, the property, and the user identified by the aggregateevent. The scheduler module 122 instructs the aggregator module 110 toupdate the user's aggregate value for the property.

The backfill module 314 assists in determining aggregate values fornewly created properties. Assume that a property is created by a user totrack the number of times users made a purchase from a content providersystem 102 in the last seven days. When the property is created, if anaggregator module 110 were to determine the aggregate value for a userfor the property at that point, the aggregator module 110 woulddetermine that the user's aggregate value is zero because there are noevent entries yet in its respective aggregator store (i.e., cache 112and intermediate store 114) for the property. However, the user may havemade a purchase from the content provider system 102 five days ago.Hence, the user's aggregate value for the property in the property valuestore 116 would be inaccurate. The backfill module 314 assists by usingthe event archive store 108 to provide the aggregator modules 110 withinformation of events that occurred prior to the creation of theproperty. Since the event archive store 108 includes a history of eventsthat have occurred, the event archive store 108 will have information onevents that occurred prior to the creation of the property.

As a result, when a new property is created by a content provider system102, the backfill module 314 searches the event archive store 108 forevents that satisfy the aggregate conditions of the property. In oneembodiment, the backfill module 314 searches the event archive store 108for events that satisfy the aggregate conditions of the property andwhose event times are within an aggregation period. The aggregationperiod is between the current time (t) and the current time minus theretention period of the property (t-retention period).

For each event identified according to the searching, the backfillmodule 314 selects an aggregator module 110 based on the user thatperformed the event and transmits the event information of the event toselected aggregator module 110. The aggregator modules 110 processes theevent information received from the backfill module 314 like itprocesses event information received from the selector module 106 (i.e.,by storing the event information and determining aggregate values).Hence, by the aggregator modules 110 receiving event information forevents that occurred prior to the creation of the property, theaggregator values determined by the aggregator module 110 will beaccurate. In one embodiment, the aggregator modules 110 process theevent information received from the backfill module 314 in batches.

The web server 320 links the online system 104 via the network 202 tothe one or more client devices 204, as well as to the one or morecontent provider system 102. The web server 320 serves web pages, aswell as other web-related content, such as JAVA®, FLASH®, XML and soforth. The web server 320 may receive and route messages between theonline system 104 and the client device 204, for example, instantmessages, queued messages (e.g., email), text messages, short messageservice (SMS) messages, or messages sent using any other suitablemessaging technique. A user may send a request to the web server 320 toupload information (e.g., images or videos). Additionally, the webserver 320 may provide application programming interface (API)functionality to send data directly to native client device operatingsystems, such as IOS®, ANDROID™, WEBOS® or RIM®.

Event Processing

FIG. 4 is a flowchart 400 illustrating a process for processing an eventperformed by a user, according to one embodiment. The online system 104receives 410 from a content provider system 102 information of an eventperformed by a user. For example, the online system 104 may receive thisinformation via an online system pixel on a website of the contentprovider system 102. The online system 104 stores 420 an event entry inan event archive store 108 for the event. The event entry includes theevent information. The online system 104 identifies 430 a propertyassociated with the content provider system 102 whose aggregateconditions are satisfied by the event. The online system 104 stores 440an event entry for the event in an aggregator store associated with theuser. The online system 104 determines 450 an aggregate value of theuser for the property based on event entries included in the aggregatorstore that are associated with the user and the property. The onlinesystem 104 determines 460 that audience conditions of the property aresatisfied by the aggregate value. The online system 104 provides 470 acontent item associated with the content provider system 102 to the userbased on the audience conditions being satisfied.

Updating Aggregate Value of Property at Removal Time

FIG. 5 is a flowchart 500 illustrating a process for updating theaggregate value of a property at removal time, according to oneembodiment. The online system 104 determines 510 a removal time for anevent entry included in an aggregator store that is associated with auser and a property. The event entry includes event information for anevent performed by the user. In one embodiment, the removal time is theevent time of when the event occurred plus the retention periodassociated with the property. Responsive to reaching the removal time,the online system 104 determines 520 an aggregation period based on theretention period associated with the property. The online system 104identifies 530 event entries included in the aggregator store that arefor events that occurred within the aggregation period and areassociated with the user and the property. The online system 104determines 540 an aggregate value of the user for the property based onthe identified event entries.

Those of the skill in the art will recognize that other embodiments canperform the steps of FIGS. 4 and 5 in different orders. Moreover, otherembodiments can include different and/or additional steps than the onesdescribed herein.

CONCLUSION

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has beenpresented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed.Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the abovedisclosure.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of theinvention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations ofoperations on information. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are commonly used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively toothers skilled in the art. These operations, while describedfunctionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits,microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient attimes, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, withoutloss of generality. The described operations and their associatedmodules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or anycombinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allof the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus forperforming the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfiguredby a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer programmay be stored in a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storagemedium, or any type of media suitable for storing electronicinstructions, which may be coupled to a computer system bus.Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification mayinclude a single processor or may be architectures employing multipleprocessor designs for increased computing capability.

Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a product that isproduced by a computing process described herein. Such a product maycomprise information resulting from a computing process, where theinformation is stored on a non-transitory, tangible computer readablestorage medium and may include any embodiment of a computer programproduct or other data combination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited notby this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsof the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, ofthe scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:receiving, by a computer system, a request to create a property for acontent item, wherein the property defines events that must be performedby a user for the user to satisfy a condition for being included in anaudience for the content item, and the property includes a retentionperiod indicating for what period of time after an event occurs that theevent should be used to satisfy the condition such that events occurringat different times have different removal times for when each eventshould no longer be used to satisfy the condition; identifying, by thecomputer system, event information for an event performed by the user,the event information including an event time associated with the event;selecting, by the computer system, from a plurality of storages, astorage in which to store the event information based on the user beingassigned to the storage; storing, by the computer system, an event entrythat includes the event information and is associated with the user inthe selected storage, the selected storage comprising at least one of acache and an intermediate store; determining, by the computer system, afirst aggregate value based on a first plurality of event entriesassociated with the user that are stored in the selected storage, thefirst plurality of event entries including the stored event entry andthe first aggregate value indicating a number of times the userperformed events during a first time period that includes the eventtime; providing, by the computer system, the content item to the userbased on the first aggregate value satisfying the condition for beingincluded in the audience for the content item; determining, by thecomputer system, a removal time for the stored event entry, wherein theremoval time is the event time plus the retention period associated withthe property; and responsive to reaching the removal time, determining,by the computer system, an aggregation period to be between a currenttime and the current time minus the retention period of the property,identifying a second plurality of event entries for events that occurredwithin the aggregation period associated with the user and the property,and determining a second aggregate value based on the second pluralityof event entries associated with the user which are stored event entriesassociated with the user that have not reached a corresponding removaltime, the second plurality of event entries not including the storedevent entry which has reached the removal time, and the second aggregatevalue indicating a number of times the user performed events during asecond time period that does not include the event time.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the content item isassociated with a content provider.
 3. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, further comprising determining not to provide an additionalcontent item to the user based on the second aggregate value.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: associatingthe stored event entry with a property associated with a contentprovider based on the event satisfying aggregate conditions of theproperty; and identifying the first plurality of event entries based oneach of the first plurality of event entries being associated with theproperty and describing an event that occurred during the first timeperiod.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the firsttime period is between a current time when determining the firstaggregate value and the current time when determining the firstaggregate value minus the retention period of the property.
 6. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the stored event entryis associated with a property of a content provider.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the event information isfor an event performed by the user with a content provider system. 8.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first pluralityof event entries and the second plurality of event entries are stored inthe selected storage.
 9. A non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium storing executable computer program instructions, the computerprogram instructions comprising instructions for: receiving, by acomputer system, a request to create a property for a content item,wherein the property defines events that must be performed by a user forthe user to satisfy a condition for being included in an audience forthe content item, and the property includes a retention periodindicating for what period of time after an event occurs that the eventshould be used to satisfy the condition such that events occurring atdifferent times have different removal times for when each event shouldno longer be used to satisfy the condition; identifying, by the computersystem, event information for an event performed by the user, the eventinformation including an event time associated with the event;selecting, by the computer system, from a plurality of storages, astorage in which to store the event information based on the user beingassigned to the storage; storing, by the computer system, an event entrythat includes the event information and is associated with the user inthe selected storage, the selected storage comprising at least one of acache and an intermediate store; determining, by the computer system, afirst aggregate value based on a first plurality of event entriesassociated with the user that are stored in the selected storage, thefirst plurality of event entries including the stored event entry andthe first aggregate value indicating a number of times the userperformed events during a first time period that includes the eventtime; providing, by the computer system, the content item to the userbased on the first aggregate value satisfying the condition for beingincluded in the audience for the content item; determining, by thecomputer system, a removal time for the stored event entry, wherein theremoval time is the event time plus the retention period associated withthe property; and responsive to reaching the removal time, determining,by the computer system, an aggregation period to be between a currenttime and the current time minus the retention period of the property,identifying a second plurality of event entries for events that occurredwithin the aggregation period associated with the user and the property,and determining a second aggregate value based on the second pluralityof event entries associated with the user which are stored event entriesassociated with the user that have not reached a corresponding removaltime, the second plurality of event entries not including the storedevent entry which has reached the removal time, and the second aggregatevalue indicating a number of times the user performed events during asecond time period that does not include the event time.
 10. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the content item isassociated with a content provider and the content item is provided tothe user based on the first aggregate value satisfying audienceconditions of a property associated with the content provider.
 11. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprisinginstructions for determining not to provide an additional content itemto the user based on the second aggregate value.
 12. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprisinginstructions for: associating the stored event entry with a propertyassociated with a content provider based on the event satisfyingaggregate conditions of the property; and identifying the firstplurality of event entries based on each of the first plurality of evententries being associated with the property and describing an event thatoccurred during the first time period.
 13. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 9, wherein the first time period is between a currenttime when determining the first aggregate value and the current timewhen determining the first aggregate value minus the retention period ofthe property.
 14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9,wherein the stored event entry is associated with a property of acontent provider.
 15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9,wherein the event information is for an event performed by the user witha content provider system.
 16. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 9, wherein the first plurality of event entries and the secondplurality of event entries are stored in the selected storage.